HOW CAN WE KNOW?

Who Says Whether or Not God Exits?

Sometimes you have to wonder whether you can find answers to the hard questions. There's a lot of shallowness these days, and a lot of people are not stopping to ask, "Why am I here?" or "Why is there something rather than nothing?" Occasionally, someone might ask , "Where did it all come from?" but the conflicting answers are confusing and ultimately it's impossible to tell which ones have a ring of truth to them, and which ones are either outright speculation - worse, lies.

If only there were an authoritative, objective revelation, something not contrived by the human mind, but unveiled to us from outside of the material cosmos, so that the perspective is not controlled by a limited viewpoint, or myopia. Those who think that what we see and feel or experience is all there is (exists), say there is nothing but "blind indifference" in the universe. And yet everything within our humanity, from our self-awareness, to our conscience, to our ability to think and reason about our own existence and purpose, a sense that there is more to it than that, recognizes that a very real immaterial part of our nature exists that can think, love, feel emotion, reason, and remember, None of those elements of our humanity can be explained by the physical properties of biology or chemistry. Our brain does not think, that is the chemicals or biology do not explain thinking and consciousness. How can we solve the problem of knowing one way or the other?

In Romans 1 (18-32), Paul speaks of "ignorance" about God as a self-inflicted resistance to the evidence all around us, which he calls God revelation of himself in what he has created. It is, he says self-evident that God created the material cosmos, and that unbelief in that proposition is a self-imposed constraint, adopted mostly because if we don't want to reckon with moral God, or to abandon our wickedness, the evil ways of our nature, or self determinism, operating without moral interference from God, However, without doubt these are the factors that have left our world, and culture in such a horrible mess.

Can we honestly say, with all of the evil in the world to day, not to mention suffering, that we really want to live like this? More importantly, if there is no God, as some say, how do know what evil is? Somehow, we have become aware of it, and if the cosmos is what it is, then why do we expect better from it? But you better believe everyone of us does! We want fairness and justice. We want injustices to us to be corrected, offenses against us punished, and to be judged on our merits, so that we are acknowledged and commended for our achievements. We expect to be rewarded for doing well, whatever that might be (although we have a concept of "well" that we expect everyone to recognize as universal). But if there is no God why do we expect that? Frank Turek accuses atheists of borrowing these ideas from God, because without God we cannot expect any such properties to exist in a purely material universe. Materials and physics do not embody moral properties. If they exist objectively, and people believe they do almost universally, then they didn't come from nature. Paul argues that it is because God has revealed himself, the invisible qualities of his nature and holiness to us in creation, that everyone at least has a starting place to find God, to know purpose and morality. The only witness with any value must come from outside, someone who can give us objective perspective.

So, how can we verify that proposition? That God is the creator of everything, and has revealed himself through it? When scientists flaunt the scientific method, observation, hypothesis, experimentation, they often pretend that is academic and mysterious, beyond most people. The truth is, science forms inferences about the world, just like the rest of us do in our everyday life. It is part of our humanity to draw inferences from what we see, and to act on what we conclude, until more information comes that confirms or disconfirm the original conclusion. If my driveway is wet, but my lawn is dry, and I see the remnants of suds underneath my car, and a wet rag hanging on the porch rail, I am not like to conclude it rained only over a 10 or 20 foot area around my house. Paul argues in Romans 1 that creation itself provides enough evidence for an valid inference for the existence of God. And, as he goes on to say, that we have an awareness of morality, the right and wrong of things,. That awareness is pervasive throughout humanity, along with a sense of justice, and fairness, things that are altogether unexpected if evolution is true. God must be moral in his nature, since he has created us with a moral awareness.

Every serious seeker ought to investigate these things more deeply, and draw their own conclusions. But that is the point, investigate, draw up an inference, and compare what the Bible says about God as creator and ruler of creation. Then see if your conclusions and impressions are compelling or not.